Flue cutting, cleaning, and welding machine



May 25 1926.

R. J. ONEILL FLUE CUTTING, CLEANING, AND WELDING MACHINE Filed April 1.1922 II u nniihu n a Kg Patented May 25, 1926.

RICHARD J. ONEILL, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

rum currme, CLEANING, AND WELDING uacnma.

Application filed April 1, 1922 Serial No. 548,747.

The object of this invention is to provide a machine for removing scalefrom the outside of boiler flues, which preferably will feed the flueautomatically and may also be I easily converted into a fluecutting or aflue welding machine.

Briefly the inventionconsists in a hollow support for receiving a flueupon which a 1'0- tary driving member is mounted, this mem- 10 heroperating the cleaning, cutting and welding means. The cleaning meanspreferably is'in the form of threaded rolls adjustable to set thethreads at an angle to the axis of the flue for automatically feedingthe same.

1 Guiding and supporting means for the ends of the flue are provided,and said means at the trailing end are automatically releasable as theend of the flue passes to the cleaners.

A mandrel is provided which may be posil tioned within the flue for anyor all ofthe operations as desired or as may be necessary.

In the accompanying drawings wherein certain embodiments of theinvention are disclosed,-.- j

Fig. 1 is a view largely in elevation, but with parts broken away,showing the invention in its preferred form;

Fig. 2 is adetail in plan of the cleaning elements as indicated by line.2-2 of Fig. 1; 9 Fig. 2 is a sectional detail thereof;.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan taken from line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a cross Fig. 1;

Fig.. 5 is a perspective view of a form showing the cleaning, cuttingand welding rolls assembled as an adjustable unit;

Fig. 6 is a view chiefly in vertical section showlng some of the partsof Fig. 1 and in- 4 dicatiig how the mandrel is ordlnarily em- Fig. 7 isa sectional detail showing a mandrel'whieh may be used when very shortlengths are be' handled.

Fig. 8 is a .d atail of a roller mounting which may be used with therollers of Fig. 5.

Abase or main support 10 is employed which has a head or bearing 12 inwhich is mounted-a hollow tool support or sleeve 14. The outer end ofsupport 14 has a pulley 15 journaled thereon which may be driven by abelt 116, while the other end adjacent the head 12 carries aslidableandrotatable collar 16 which maybe positively reciprocated by 55 means of ayoke 18 or the like. Upon the section on line 44 of spokes 20 of thepulley 15 a plurality of arms 22 are pivoted at 23, one end of each armbeing connected with the collar 16 by a link 24 in toggle formation.Adjacent the connection between each arm 22 and its link 24, a weight 25may be mounted, its position being adjustable by reason of a pluralityof holes 26 in the arms for receiving the securing pins. The outer endsof the arms 22 carry heads 30 and, as shown in Fig. 1, cleaning rolls40. In this manner the weights 25 function after the fashion of agovernor when pulley 15 is rotating, causing the rolls 40 to bear upontheflue F with increasing pressure as the speed of the pulley increases,the pressure thus being automatically variable, while manual control maybe had through manipulation of the yoke 18.

The heads 30 are mounted on the ends of arms 22 and are retained as bymeansof nuts 31. Each head is rovided with a radially extending partia1y cylindrical socket 32 which receives a partially cylindrical tongue33 in sliding relation, thus forming a sort of dove-tar joint which hassuflicient play to permit variation of the angle of the plate 34 ontongue 33 with respect to the axis of the flue F and the support 14.This adjustment is secured by means of a pair'of set screws 35 in theplate 34 bearing against head 30 on opposite sides of socket 32, whileradial adjustment is maintained by a set screw in head 30 enaging withtongue 33. The lower end of head plate 30 carries a body or base 38having trunnipns 39 upon which rolls 40 are mounted. Rolls 40 have aplurality of preferably removably threads 42 and these threads arepreferably parallel forming a corrugated surface on the roll. Byadjustment of plate 34 with screws 35 the angularity of the threads 42with relation to the axis of the flue may be varied, and these threadswill thus cause the flue to feed through support 14 as may be desired.The pressure will also cause the scale to be chi ped off the surface ofthe'flue.

11 order to support and position the ends.

of the flue F, tracks in the form ofchannel irons 45 mounted upon legs46 are placed at the opposite ends of the cleaning mechanism,

and these channel irons receive the wheels 48 of a carriage50. Eachcarriage -is provided with a stationary flue gripping jaw 52 and astandard 54 to the upper end of which there is pivoted at 55 an arm 56prov ded with a movable jaw 58 and a counterwelght 60. An upstanding rod62 pivoted on the chine.

mandrel-bearing rod 78 carriage is adapted to enter a slot in the end ofarm 56'and has pivoted thereon at 63 a trigger 64; which is forkedadjacent said pivot to rest upon the sides of arm 56 adjacent the slotwhen in upright or engaging position for causing the jaws to engage theflue F. Adjacent that end of the track next to the feed side of themachine, a frame 65 is provided which carries a trip bar 66 in the pathof the upper end of trigger 64, whereby as the pipe end is fed to themachine the trip bar 66 throws the triggenover to release arm 56 andpermit counterweight 60 to withdraw jaw 58 of the respective carriage.Upon said track closely adjacent the cleaning elements a pair of concaveguiding rollers 7 O are mounted upon supporting arms 72, wherebyaccurate feeding of the flue tothe cleaners is assured.

When a flue is to be cleaned, the tongues 33 are adjusted in heads 30 inaccordance with the diameter of the flue, and the angularity of thethreads of the rolls 40 is determined for the feed desired. Rotation ofpulle 15 causes rotation of the cleaners and centrifugal force actingupon weights 25 causes pressure upon the flue to increase with increasein speed of rotation, the pressure of the threads resulting in chippingoff the scale and the angularity of the threads producing ,feed of theflue through the ma- The carriages 50 support the ends of the flue andtravel along the tracks formed by the channellirons 45, the concaverollers 70 guiding the fine accurately to the cleaners, and the trip 66releasing'the jaws 52, 58 from the trailing end of the flue as it itabout to pass to the cleaners. Thus the flue passes automaticallythrough the machine and is automatically cleaned. Obviously, the pulley15 may be gear driven as by a motor, instead of belt driven as shown.

In Fig. 6 the machine is shown equipped with a mandrel 7 6'which isomitted from Fig. P but may be used wherever desired. Said mandrel iscarried on a long rod whose opposite end is mounted on a base beyond theend of the flue. If necessary the mandrel may be used with the cleaningrolls, in which case the'rod 78 will extend into the flue and the base80 will be positioned adjacent the end of the respective track 45.However in said Fig. 6 the arms 20 are shown equipped with weldingrollers for producing a weld joint between the flue section F and theflue section F. (Thus the devicemay be used for reclaiming flues, thatis using sections'of broken flues'by'welding them together in properlengths. The hol 14 and the elongated permit the handling of long fluesor flue sections. Whatever the character of he rolls used, the device ofthis Fig. 6 operates as does that of Fig. 1.

Fig. '7 shows a form for welding very low support or sleeve bearings 94upon which are mounte( .the threaded cleaning rolls 40,- a smooth shortflue sections F" to a flue F. In this form the mandrel 82, which ispositioned within the flues under the scarfed joint 83 to be welded, isheld within the sleeve 14 by means of a head or core secured to thesleeve, the flue section lying within the sleeve. The mandrel and itshead are removably mounted for ready withdrawal, said head beingindicated at 84.

For flue cutting, one or more of the smooth faced welding rolls 75 ofFig. 6 may be replaced by a cutting roll such as seen at 85 in Fig. 5

In its most comprehensive form, each of the arms 22 of the form of Figs.1 and 6 carries cleaning, welding and cutting rolls. Such a form isindicated in Fig. 5, where the arm 22 carries a spider 90 mounted upon atriangular shouldered section 92 of the arm, the tip of the arm beingthreaded at 93 to receive a spider-retaining nut not shown. The arms ofthe spider respectively carry one of faced welding roll 7 5 and acutting roll 85 having a cutting rib or the like 86. By removing thespider 90 from each arm 22 and adjusting to desired positions, themachine may be quickly set for cleaning, welding or cutting as desired.Obviously the shaft or bearing 94 for the cleaning rolls 40 may beadjustably or fixedly positioned upon the spider 90 for the purpose ofsetting the roll at the angle desired for proper feeding and cleaning ofthe flue. It is also obvious that the radial adjustment shown inFigs. 1. 2 and 6 M32, 33, 35, may be employed for mounting the variousrolls on the arms of the spider 90. but this construction is notindicated in Fig. 5 to avoid confusion'in the showing.

' The adjustable roll-mounting of Figs. 1, 2 and 2*- may include afeature for automatic adjustment of the roll trunnions 39, this featurebeing shown in Fig. 2. Here the shaft 139 whichcarries the trunnions 39is mounted in a slot extending radially outward from the bottom of thehead 38, this shaft being adapted to rock upon a fulcruming shoulder 43on the head within the slot, and being held against displacement fromthe slot as by means of a set screw 44 or the like. Thus one rollmaymove inward slightly with corresponding outward movement of the otherin order to insure equal pressure of the rolls upon the flue.

From the foregoing it will be clear that the present invention provides.means for quickly and efficiently cleaning long'flues of variousdiameters and simultaneously feeding the flue through the machine as itis cleaned, means being provided for properly positioning and guidingthe flue. At the same time a long flue may be successfully handled and amandrel may be used therein if desired. Also, simple adjustments convertthe device into a. welding or a cutting machine and then back to acleaning machine as may be required. This saves time and materiallyreduces the amount of equipment needed in the shop.

In Fig. 8 there is shown in transverse section a detail of a rollermounting which may be used with the cleaning rollers 40 of Fig. 5 forplacing the axis of each roller at an angle to the axis of flue F. Thisconsists in a bearing or bushing 95 having a bore at an angle to itsaxis for receiving the shaft 94 which is carried on spider 90. Theroller 40 has a large bore which receives the bushing 95 for rotation ofthe roller upon the bushing. Thus the desired angularity of the rolleris obtained.

- support adapted to receive a flue therein, a

I claim:

1. In combination, a hollow support adapted to receive therein a flue orthe like, fluetreatin members for engagingthe flue, means for b0 ilyrotating said members relatively to the flue for acting upon the latter,and

means for automatically increasing the pressure of the members withincrease of speed of rotation during operation. 2. In combination, ahollow support adapted to receive therein a flue or the like, cleaningmembers for engaging the flue, means for bodily rotating said membersrelatively to the flue, and means for automatically varying the pressureof said members upon the flue with variation of speed of rotation duringthe cleaning operation.

3. In combination, a stationary hollow drivin member rotatable about theaxis thereo cleaning members carried upon and operated by. said drivingmember, said cleaning members being adapted to engage the flue forcleaning the latter and also adapted to feed the flue through thesupport when in operation.

4.--In combination, a stationary hollow support adapted to receive aflue therein, a driving member rotatable about the axis thereof, andthreaded cleaning rolls operated by said member and adapted to engagethe flue to clean the same, the threads being set at an angle to theaxis of the flue for feeding the latter through said support.

5. In combination, a stationary hollow support adapted to receive a fluetherein, a drivin member rotatable about the axis thereo and threadedcleaning rolls carried upon said membe'r' and adapted to engage androtate around said flue, the threads of the rolls being setat an angletothe axis of the flue-for feeding the latter.

6. In combination, a support, a driving member adapted for passage of aflue therethrough along its axis, and cleaning members operable by thedriving member and adapted to engage the flue, said members memberthereon adapted being adjustable radially and to vary their i angle withrespect to said axis.

7. In combination, a support, a driving member adapted for passage of aflue therethrough along its axis, and threaded cleaning rolls operableby said member and adapted to engage the flue, said rolls beinadjustable to vary the set of the threads with respect to said axis,whereby said threads may feed the flue at different rates.

8. In combination, a su port, a driving ibr passage of a fluetherethrough, flue treating means driven by said member, and guiding andsupporting means on opposite sides of said support for the ends ofa'flue, one of said supporting means being automatically releasable asthe flue is fed.

9. In combination, member thereon adapted for passage of a fluetherethrough, 'a flue treating means driven by said member and adaptedto feed the flue, and guiding and supporting means for the ends of theflue, the means at one end of the flue being automatically releasable asthe flue is fed.

10. In combination, a support, a driving member'thereon' adapted for thepassage of a flue therethrough, a flue treating means driven by saidmember and adapted to feed a flue, carriage means having flue grippingmeans for the opposite ends of the flue, guiding means for said carriagemeans, and means for automatically releasing the gripping means for oneend of the flue as the flue isfed.

11. In combination, a'support, driving means thereon, flue cleaningmeans, flue welding means and flue cutting means adapted to be broughtselectively into working position and operable by said driving means.

12. In combination, a support, driving means thereon, and flue cleaningmeans and flue cutting means adapted to be brought selectively intoworking position and operable by said driving means.

13. In combination, a support, drivin means thereon, and flue cleaningmeans an flue welding means adapted to be brought selectively intoworking position and operable by said driving means.

14. In combination, a support, a driving member thereon adapted for thepassage of a flue therethrough, and flue cleaning, flue cutting and fluewelding means adapted to be brought selectively into working positionand operable by said driving means.-

.15. In combination, a support, driving means thereon adapted for thepassage of a flue therethrough, and flue cleaning means, flue cut-tingmeans and flue welding means adapted to be brought selectively intowork'- a support, a driving ing position .and carried upon and operableI by said driving means.

16. In combination, a support, a driving member thereon adapted for thepassageof a' flue therethrough, and flue cleaning and flue cutting meansadapted to be brought selectively intov working position and car- I 5ried by said driving member.

17. In combination, a support, driving means thereon adapted for thepassage of a flue therethrough, and adjustably mounted flue cleaning,flue cutting and flue welding means adapted to be brought selectively 10into working position and carried by said driving means and operablethereby.

In testimony vvhereof I afiix my signature.

RICHARD J. ONEILL.

